A FRAMED picture of a Gazette Property front page is hanging up in a brand-new apartment in Basingstoke.

The picture of Matt Bray, 33, a recruitment manager in Reading, was taken last March when his apartment was just a shell.

It has been framed for him as a reminder of how he bought the apartment from plan and watched its progress until he was able to move in at the end of September.

Mr Bray bought the apartment through estate agent Keel Barrett, whose founder, Michael O'Shea, is one of his rugby-playing friends.

Mr O'Shea is the selling agent for the T A Fisher development of Westlands House in Basingstoke's Winchester Road, and decided to present his friend with the front page print and a copy of the new Basingstoke Rugby Football Club calendar - with pictures taken by The Gazette - as a house-warming present.

Mr Bray bought his one-bedroomed apartment on the top floor of the development for £185,000 in January and has been "camping" in a friend's spare room while it was built.

He said: "I'm over the moon with it. It's perfect."

He has a mountain bike on the way, which will be stored in the on-site cycle shed, and his snowboard is already locked away in his allocated locker in the underground parking area, where he also has a space for his car.

The town centre location for Westlands House means Mr Bray can walk or cycle around Basingstoke or to the rugby club, where he is a blind-side flanker and captain of the third team, who are riding high in the Thames Valley Invitational B League.

Westlands House consists of two buildings - and, out of a total of 28 apartments, only seven are still available. T A Fisher has opened a new show apartment and the remaining two-bedroomed units are priced from £290,000 to £335,000.